BIO HAZARD 2

BIO HAZARD 2 (Chinese: 生化危機2; Pinyin: Shēnghuà wéijī 2) was a manhua series published by King's Foundation at an average price of HK$13. Published from February 1998 to April 1999, it spanned sixty volumes, with four or five issues released per month. It was published in Taiwan (as Chinese: 惡靈古堡2; Pinyin: Èlínggǔbǎo 2) by the CHIN WIN PUBLISHING CO. in a more condensed form, with the 60 issues being merged into 20 books. It should be noted that only the first fourteen issues followed the game's storyline; the succeeding volumes were original stories.

Contents

The series plot is devoted to Umbrella's attempts to destroy the world, as its CEO - "God" - fulfills an ancient prophesy with the help of a long lost people's advanced technology and the G-Virus. Chris and S.T.A.R.S. attack Umbrella's European headquarters under orders from President Clinton, but fail to apprehend him when God undergoes an operation to survive as a brain inside a jar.

Meanwhile, Leon is transferred to Raccoon City's new police special forces unit and says goodbye to his teammates. He stumbles onto a large scale viral infection caused by Police Commissioner Brian Irons' assassination of Dr. William. He meets up with fellow survivors Claire - Chris' sister - and Sherry, the daughter of Dr. William. Ada Wong, an Umbrella spy, also joins the team, seeking to abduct Sherry to provide Umbrella with the source of her magical powers. Outside Raccoon City, Leon's former comrades are drafted into the "Special Forces Unit", an army SpecOps unit as they make preparations to carpet bomb the city. They are ordered to enter the city; rescue Leon and escape. In doing so, Ada Wong and Police Commissioner Brian are killed. Leon is introduced to a purple-clad Umbrella agent, who uses whips in combat. The team escapes from Raccoon City as it is bombed, and are picked up by Chris.

The SFU; Chris; Leon; Claire and the computer assistant "Microsoft" join together to found a new organization - the "Bio Hazard Special Team" (BHST). They enter a technologically advanced artificial Asian city (known to as the "Asian Artificial Island"), planning to foil God's attempts to take over the city. They experience a number of failings, almost splitting up when Chris and Leon argue about evidence of Ada's resurrection. God succeeds in taking over the body of Inzhagi, the city's richest man with total control of the city's media. The purple-clad Umbrella agent is then sent out to the city, having his ten-strong terrorist force infect themselves with the G-Virus to become magical super warriors. They spread the virus across the city and attack the BHST compound. Leon then discovers that the Umbrella agent is his father. He is then infected with the G-Virus and dies; he reanimates as a powerful new superbeing with the power of flight.

Leon and his comrades Baakdo and Microsoft fly off to China to investigate the mysterious "Different space", a supernatural realm where dinosaurs and giant Lickers thrive alongside a magical talking dragon named "Molung". Here, Leon discovers about God's plans in the ancient civilization's prophecies. Meanwhile, the BHST launch a counteroffensive on the island as its soldiers are killed off; they take possession of the ancients magical "Seven Weapons", which they use to kill the Umbrella agent's mutant terrorists in Leon's absence. Their friend arrives later and finds God, where it is revealed he has successfully brought Ada back to life in order to make her his queen. They fight and the G-Virus is spread across the city by a beam of light; Leon thinks God dead.

On the other side of the city, the virus infects its denizens and they become arrogant and aggressive killers well aware of their actions. "Reform" is infected by an ordinary pack of zombies and also becomes powerful, sucking the innards out of his family with his tentacles. He later takes control of infected gangs, becoming the de facto leader - this also impresses the remaining Umbrella leaders, who seek to make a deal with him. Attacking a military base with his army of infected, Reform gains control of a missile launch silo. He fires a missile at Hong Kong, spreading the G-Virus over the city in a gaseous form.

Meanwhile, Claire apprehends an infected beachgoer named "Perth", who she needs as part of "Microsoft"'s research into treating the G-Virus. Sherry is also brought in from the United States to take part in the research; the commander of CENTCOM is revealed to be an Umbrella agent and mutates during the plane ride in order to fight her bodyguard, Baakdo. He is driven off as Leon and Ada watch on.

Due to the dangerous nature of the "Enhanced Zombies", Leon seeks to take out the threat from the very top. They mutate and fight, but Leon is defeated by a sudden attack from God, who absorbs Leon and takes on a similar form. The treatment of Sherry and Perth fails, and the two mutate (Perth into another monster; Sherry into a grown, naked woman with much more stronger powers). Microsoft is revealed to be an Umbrella spy, and also infects himself. With the facility compromised by two monsters, the few remaining soldiers on the island are almost all killed, along with BHST operatives Ya Lan and Charlie. When Ada shows up, Dehne throws her into a crowd of zombies to get back at her for 'stealing' Leon from her; Sherry witnesses this and saves Ada. As the few survivors escape, Leon/God arrives to kill the monsters, who he perceives as threats to his plans, being Reform's. Leon's father arrives, allying himself with the human survivors.

The magical Patron Saints of the Different Space arrive on the island to assist the BHST in fighting God. As the international community begin missile attacks on the island, God forces away his foes and begins releasing more and more of his Ki. When the missiles come into view, he generates more and more lightning to destroy them in the air. Molung tries to kill Ada, recognising her importance to God's plan; God fights away the dragon and instead decides to kill Ada and Dehne. The "good" Leon interferes with this, unwilling to let it happen. Consequently, God and Leon split forms. The "evil" Leon tries to kill Sherry, but her powers are too great for him and the "good" Leon is able to attack despite them being equal. The "evil" Leon resorts to blowing up Dehne with a Ki blast to the chest to attack Leon. Overcome with grief, Leon charges an overwhelming amount of Ki into his fist and punches God; although it collides with an equally-powerful punch from God, it is enough for him to give up. The two teleport to Heaven to fight again, leaving the Earth out of the way; Sherry, the Patron Saints and all the infected creatures fly up into the sky along with Ada. Claire; Chris and Leon's cured father celebrate as Leon and Ada send a rainbow message.

The first four volumes[note 1] were released in February, and featured various merchandising, with a number of unique editions. Volume 4, for example, known as the "Super "G" Size Limited Edition", was limited to 3,000 copies and came with a BIO HAZARD 2 booklet; a poster and two "character cards" (Ada Wong and Brian Irons). Initially, the series was to be published weekly on Saturdays, though this changed multiple times, hence why some months were marked by five issues.

In the earlier volumes, issues would be split up into chapters as recorded in a contents page. The front cover titling uses a non-standard writing style, where the Chinese possessive characters "的" ("de") and "之" ("zhī"), respectively) are replaced with their Japanese equivalent, "の" ("no"). The pronunciation is not changed when read; the substitution is used in Hong Kong and Taiwan to give an exotic feel.